Mainz 2017 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 59: Ultracold atoms and BEC - VI (with A)
Q 59.3: Talk
Friday, March 10, 2017, 15:15–15:30, N 1
Commensurate-incommensurate transition with ions — •Andreas Alexander Buchheit1, Haggai Landa2, Cecilia Cormick3, Thomas Fogarty4, Vladimir Stojanovic5, Eugene Demler5, and Giovanna Morigi1 — 1Universität des Saarlandes, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany — 2LPTMS, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France — 3IFEG, CONICET and Universidad Nacional de Cordoba — 4Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, — 5Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
We show that the commensurate-incommensurate transition can be simulated with a trapped linear chain of ions which are additionally confined by an optical lattice. The ratio between the ion interparticle distance in the absence of the lattice and the lattice wavelength can be adjusted by modifying the ion trapping potential, and we focus on the regime when these two lengths are nearly commensurate. We show that in this system one can observe the onset of the incommensurate phase through the creation of solitons at the chain edges followed by the formation of a soliton chain, and we further identify the range of ion temperatures and chain sizes which allows these dynamics to be realised. We finally discuss the observables which signal the inception of this phase and the regime of experimental parameters for which these dynamics can be observed.